It's once again that time of week when I discuss what I've been reading in the world of short fiction. I'm currently going through the year 1997 and the Gardner Dozois anthology The Year's Best Science Fiction, Fifteenth Annual Collection, highlighting the genre from that year. As has been the case in this series, Dozier as editor shows a predilection for longer "short stories" and novellas. Here are my reactions to the next two appearing in the book...
WE WILL DRINK A FISH TOGETHER by Bill Johnson
This is a quirky alien contact story set in, of all places, Indian country in South Dakota. The high-level human security officer, originally from that culture, is assigned to protect the alien ambassador to Earth. He has a conflict of interest...his brother has died and he decides to quit rather than miss his funeral and burial. It's all about keeping true to one's "line", and the story gets further complicated when the wolverine-looking ambassador shows up at his local bar. A fun read...
ESCAPE ROUTE by Peter F. Hamilton
Full of impressive "hard" science fiction technical talk, this novella is set far in the future when humanity, still prone to war, oppression, capitalism and rebellion, has reached out and settled (and exploited) other star systems. An enterprising private starship captain takes on a special collaboration with some shady characters to harvest precious metals ..and discovers an ancient alien outpost. Full of intrigues and plot twists, this story...in my humble opinion...tried to do a little too much...
Next week I plan to continue with sci-fi from '97..
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